This invention relates to the field of water closets with combined tank and bowl having an alternate flushing means. In particular, the invention is devised to conserve water by replacing rather than flushing the sedentary waste water in the bowl of the toilet.
In prior art devices a toilet has required a large volume of water to thoroughly flush the relatively small amount of waste water in the bowl of the toilet. This extravagent use of water may once have been justified, but with the present recognition of water as a scarce as well as valuable commodity, such use can no longer be continued without concern. Conservation steps to mitigate the unnecessarily large volume of water used during flushing, customarily 4 to 6 gallons, have consisted largely of reducing the volume of water in the accompanying toilet storage tanks by placing therein bricks or filled bottles as water displacement devices or lowering the float position for the water intake valve. These measures may reduce the loss by as much as a gallon, but are limited by the inherent design requirements of the flush toilet which prevents too great a reduction a volume if consistent operability is to be maintained.
Other toilet designs utilizing chemicals or recycled mineral oils can substantially reduce water consumption but are better suited for environments where water is virtually unavailable. For the common situation where water is available, a toilet system designed with water as the medium of waste conveyance is preferred. However, the system should necessarily be designed to use water sparingly. The toilet of the invention is devised to minimize the use of water, yet retain many characteristics of the conventional flush toilet.